Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Today is actually a holiday in Paris. Everyone is closed for Ascension Day so I got to play with the friends I have borrowed from Xander for the month. They picked me up around noon and we drove over to Champs Elysees in search of brunch. Having already veered from the original plan (which was a café called Los Editeurs right near my apartment, which MO claims has the best eggs for breakfast) we wandered around trying to con each other into making an executive decision before we finally all agreed upon Lebanese. I’m still not sure what happened to the original plan but after completing my first real Lebanese experience, I was pleased with the impromptu plan. We went to this fantastic restaurant called Noura (27 Avenue Marceau, Paris http://noura.com/). The food was incredible. We were all a little indecisive but eventually managed to order wine, cheese filled tube things, falafels, hummus, grilled lamb, eggplant, sausages, beans, spinach filled dough-things (that’s the technical term) and I don’t even know what else…the food just kept coming and I ate it all very willingly. By the time we had devoured everything given to us, we were all so full. Full but happy. But not too full. We didn’t want to miss dessert. We ordered some ice cream (chocolate, rosewater and green tea) and 2 Lebanese specialties: Halawa bel jebneh (almost like a flan with cream and dribbled with sugar syrup) and Katayek kachta (mini crepes filled with cheese, crushed pistachios sprinkled on top and covered in sugar syrup.)

The added entertainment was our waiter. He was really funny. He consistently made us laugh with his expressions and goofy attitude. Towards the end of our meal, it started to rain. I gave Vassilis my umbrella, because the awning was not sufficiently protecting him from the drops. A few minutes later, our waiter walked by and grabbed the umbrella. He continued to waltz around the terrace checking his other tables with the umbrella in his hand and kept pausing to thank Vas for the use of it. He was very sweet and one of the nicest waiters I’ve had yet!

We rolled ourselves away from the table, hopped into the car and went across town to Le Marais. This is apparently the Jewish/gay part of Paris…used to be Jewish and in the 80’s was overtaken by the gay community. MO (who is neither Jewish or gay), is an extraordinary landscape painter and has several galleries in Le Marais who carry his work. We stopped into one of them and he hooked me up with a poster and a beautiful booklet featuring several of his paintings. The gallery rotates artists and MO’s pieces are not currently on display, but it was still fun to see where they are shown and meet the gallery owner. We stopped in the Café Hugo, just off the main square in Le Marais, which is called Place des Vosges. The buildings surrounding it are some of the oldest in the city and its claim to fame is that Victor Hugo’s home is there. We sat for a few hours laughing and talking and brainstorming, MO and Tahmineh have come up with a genius plan for a new restaurant in Paris. They went back and forth (with commentary of course here and there from Vas and myself) with ideas for everything from names and locations to dishes, décor and jingles. Although we laughed a lot during the “session” I actually think their idea is quite good and hope they give it a try. I told them I would open up the LA location once they got Paris up and going!

Around 6 they dropped me back off at my place and I decided to go over to Luxembourg Gardens for an evening of reading. It’s so beautiful there. You can smell the flowers as you sit and read and look at all the people strolling by. There was a very sweet couple who sat for the longest time beside me just chatting away the evening. I took more pictures and then actually left earlier than I had intended because I thought I was being followed by a creepy park man. I’m sure I was overreacting but I felt like every time I moved, he started to follow. I told Tam about it later and she said that’s why she doesn’t go to Luxembourg very often, there are always creepy men lurking around. She said it’s not dangerous, it’s just disconcerting and takes the fun and relaxation out of the park sitting experience. I agreed, and noted once again how unfair it is to be female, especially in Paris. I came home and indulged in my left over brie and baguette from the night before and (again, having thought ahead) treated myself to an éclair I had bought from a patisserie on my way home.

My new friend, MO, (in the striped shirt above) is the incredible artist from Singapore, who lives and works here in Paris. Check out his work: http://www.galerie-artima.com/index3.html

The first two pictures are of Tahmineh and Vassilis.